ruby
by Jaded-Raindrop
Summary: [kairel contest entry.slash.birthday fic] like one red tear, glistening in the sunset, making up for all the times he never cried for her...[au]


Note: My entry for Ana's kairel contest

3)

- - - - -

"Hey Kai…._Princess_. Remember the day we met?"

Emerald green eyes flicked to the sky-clutched in his hand was a ruby necklace.

- - - - -

She was one of those untouchable women-stylish, with movie-star like qualities that made every man drop to his knees and _worship _her. Her perfectly shaped lips would form a perfect little smirk and she'd take them to bed-and leave them wanting more when she left the next morning.

And he loved her.

Even though he knew it would never happen (he _was _a waiter in a crappy diner) he liked to dream of her and pretend that she was his.

Of course, when she walked into his diner, he jumped at the chance to talk to her.

He shoved Zexion away and tripped Sora on his way to her table. Riku made it there before him, but just as he opened his mouth, Axel punched him in the face.

Riku grunted as he fell to the floor, surprised by the red head's sudden out burst.

She smiled. "Do you always do that?"

"Only for you, babe." he said, grinning from ear to ear. Kicking Riku to the side casually, and he whipped out his notepad.

"So-what will you have today?"

"Hm, I don't know…do you have anything with less then one hundred calories, a low sodium content and-"

"Yes, we do." he interjected. "We have some lovely cardboard boxes in the back that I could have brought out."

A scowl marred her pretty face-but only for a moment. Seconds later, she was calm and composed again, giving him an incredulous look.

"I'm assuming this is the kind of restaurant that deep-fries its salads?"

"Yep!" he said mirthfully. He poked her nose. "If you wanted something healthy and fat-free, you could've gone to Marluxia's." He pointed across the street, to a building with flamboyant pink doors and flowers in the windows.

She scrunched her nose up disdainfully. "Marluxia and I…don't really get along."

"Hm? Why? You're quite the charmer." he said, leaning on the table.

She shrugged. "He's my ex."

His jaw dropped. "Ohmigosh. Are you serious?"

"Yes." she said indignantly. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yeah." he said. "So-should I just bring you one of those 'deep-fried' salads that you're so interested it, or did you just come to see me?" he asked flirtatiously.

"Whatever." she muttered, shoving him away.

Smirking, he headed back towards the kitchen.

- - - - -

"Gosh, Axel, what's the big deal? Tons of pretty girls walk into the diner-what's so special about this one to make you go berserk and beat the crap outta all of us?" Sora asked, nursing his bruised elbow.

"Oh, _boo-hoo._ Cry me a river, Sora." Axel mumbled, rolling his eyes. The brunette wrinkled his nose in distaste and poked cautiously at another bump forming on his knee.

"Why are you so interested in her anyway? She's a prick." Riku said.

"**So**? She's hot." Axel insisted, glancing at her. She waved back, a mocking smile on her face.

"Ah. So you're going to be another one of her temporary boy toys?" Zexion asked, flipping casually through the pages of his favorite magazine, _Nobodies_.

"Heck no! I'm going to be her _permanent _boy toy."

"Whatever." Riku snorted. "I doubt she knows the meaning of the word."

"Sure she does. I bet she used some permanent hair dye to get her hair that color. Now go get that salad before she gets impatient." Axel commanded, shoving Zexion forcefully into the kitchen.

"At least it looks more natural then yours…" Riku muttered under his breath.

"What'd you say dish boy?"

"Nothin'."

_- - - - - _

"I proudly present to you a-"

"Craptastic salad that barely passes as food. How the heck are you guys still in business? Your water tastes funny, and this salad is soggy." She complained, angelic lips scowling brazenly.

"Pssh. Stop complaining. It's a hecka lot cheaper than Marly's." Axel said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Eck. And a lot cruddier. What's that black spot doing on the bowl?"

"What, did you want the one with the brown stains? I could go get it for you."

The scowl on her lips finally reached her eyes as she glared up at him. "If I get food poisoning, I'm suing." she hissed.

"Go ahead. We've been dodging lawsuits for five years now." he announced proudly, plopping himself down in front of her.

She raised her eyebrows and sighed, and began to pick at her salad in defeat. He stared at her intently, as if waiting for something to happen.

She slammed down her fork impatiently. "What are you staring at, spike?!"

"You know…I've seen you pass by this diner plenty of times. And one day, as I watched you walk past, I swore to myself that I'd actually talk to you one day. And now, here I am, but I find this all a bit awkward-I don't even know my name, and you don't know mine."

"…That was completely irrelevant." she said flatly, sipping daintily at her water.

He shrugged. "Just thinkin' out loud." He leaned in. "What _is _your name?"

She smirked playfully. "I don't give my name out to just _anyone_. Especially not to random guys who work at crappy diners. Hasn't anyone informed you about 'Stranger Danger'?"

"Funny. But we're not strangers-I feel like we're friends already."

"Hmph. You're not acting very friendly. A true friend wouldn't feed me this kind of crap after a hard day at work." she pouted.

Axel snorted. "Whatever. Name's Axel."

Silence settled over the table as he looked at her expectantly. "…And your name is…?"

Her lips curled into a small smile. "Kairi."

"Hm. Well, _Kairi_, since you don't seem to be enjoying your dinner, why don't I take you to Marly's? My treat." he grinned.

"That's a…very tempting offer, but…"

"Aw, c'mon." he whined, looking at her with puppy-dog eyes.

She sighed. "Fine."

"Great!" he exclaimed, jumping up in excitement. Throwing off his apron, he grabbed her by that hand and tugged her out the door. "Let's go!"

"Wait, Axel…!" Riku yelled, rushing out from the kitchen. "You're-" the door swung shut. "-not off yet." Grunting in exasperation, the silver-haired teen banged his head against the door before straightening and stomping back towards the kitchen.

"Hm, how convenient." Zexion said, smirking mirthlessly.

"What?"

"Tonight is Axel's turn to mop the floors and lock up. If he doesn't come back by closing, then you'll have to, Riku."

_- - - - -_

"That was…a very _interesting _first date." Kairi mused, as they walked away from Marluxia's, an angry waiter watching them leave.

"Yeah. Betcha never got kicked out of a restaurant before, right, Kairi" he asked, grinning goofily.

"Of course not."

"I don't see why Marly got so angry, though…"

"You stood on the table and insisted that they serve you steak. Then, when the waiter told you that they didn't serve meat, you got angry and stormed into Marluxia's office, called him a fag and a pansy, then almost beat the poor man to a pulp. Thank goodness I walked in on you, or you'd be facing a serious lawsuit."

"Awww, were you _worried_ about me?" Axel teased, poking her playfully.

"No. I was worried that you might try and mooch money off of me." she said.

Unexpectedly, he threw back his head and laughed. "I'm not _that _horrible."

Smiling mirthlessly, she said, "I guess you aren't….you know, it probably wasn't a good idea to take me to Marluxia's."

"Why? Because he's your ex?"

"Yes…and he's a very jealous man. You know, he beat up my last boyfriend pretty bad."

"Does that mean I'm your boyfriend?" he asked

"No."

"Then why-?"

"-At least, not yet." she smiled complacently at his surprised expression and turned her face upward, gazing at the sky. "You're not who I expected you to be."

"What **did** you expect?"

"…A pervy bastard."

"Am I a pervy bastard?"

"You don't _seem_ like one…" she muttered.

"I don't seem like a lot of things, Princess." he ruminated.

"I can tell." they reached her apartment. "Want to come inside?" She leaned up against him, her voice low and seductive. He could see down her shirt and his mind spun with the possibilities…

He stepped back, and smiled. "Nah-See you later."

And he began to walk away.

Not used to being turned down, Kairi stood in front of her door, slightly shocked. Then, as she pulled out her keys, she grinned softly. "Axel, wait!"

He stopped, and looked over his shoulder.

"Here's my phone number-what's yours?"

_- - - - - _

'I knew he was different…' she thought, as she headed for bed-completely forgetting about her nightly routines. Infatuation gripped her heart tightly, and nothing but him filled her thoughts.

Her dreams that night were infiltrated by red hair and green eyes.

_- - - - - _

The next morning, she headed towards the kitchen-her hair was a mess and the make-up she had neglected to remove last night was smeared. But-she wouldn't have minded waking up to his bright green eyes…Sighing, she was busy rummaging through her refrigerator when someone knocked sharply at her door.

"Wha-?" Still half asleep, she headed for the door-and opened it to see a familiar red head leaning on the railing a few feet away.

Her eyes widened as he their gaze met, and-realizing how she looked-slammed the door in his face.

"AH! Don't-Why-ARGH."

Biting back a laugh, he casually opened the door and saw her scrambling towards her room.

"Geez-what happened to Miss Calm and Collected?" he asked, kicking the door shut. He plopped himself down on the couch and waited patiently for her to stop spazzing (not so) quietly in her room.

Finally, she came out-she had made no attempt whatsoever to fix her makeup-but her wild hair had been tamed and was now back in a ponytail.

"You could've come at a more decent hour…" she whined.

"It's ten."

"And not a decent hour." she concluded.

"Guess I couldn't stay away." he grinned.

She crinkled her nose indignantly and let out a sigh. "Want coffee?"

"Sure. Make mine-"

"Shut. Up. You will take coffee however I freaking make it. You've already pissed me off enough already, so don't push it, spike." she grabbed him by the collar and shook him violently, to get her point across.

It would have been more effective if she had been two feet taller.

He chuckled and sat himself down at her table, watching her move around the kitchen.

"What did you want, anyway?" she asked, setting a mug in front of him.

He smiled, and pulled out a velvet box.

Surprised, she looked up at him dubiously. "Um, if I say no does that mean our whole relationship is over?"

Confused, he put the box on the table. "Say no to what…?"

"So you're _not_ proposing to me?"

He snorted. "Heck no. Just open the friggin' box, Princess."

"Princess?!"

"Yep. That's my new nickname for you. Now-I know I'm incredibly sexy but could you stop gawking at me for just a _few_ seconds and open the box?"

As she opened her mouth to retort, he smirked and pushed the box gently in her direction. Sighing, she picked up the box, and held it delicately in her hands.

"What's in it?"

"Open. The. Box."

"Fine." Upon opening it, she saw a stunning ruby sitting on a white satin cushion.

Her jaw dropped. "Holy-Axel, how did you-"

"Afford it? It didn't cost me a thing." he answered breezily.

"You stole it?!" she asked frenetically.

"_No._ It was my Mom's. Actually, she gave it to my brother Reno because she didn't want her greedy sisters wouldn't get a hold of it. Reno, or course, didn't want it and gave it to me. So-um, when's your birthday?"

"…July fifth…"

"Oh, well then-ah, happy late birthday?"

She giggled. "…Thank you, Axel."

"You're welcome, Princess…"

_- - - - -_

Axel sauntered into the diner, with a cocky smile on his face.

"You're late…" Zexion said dully from behind the counter. He looked up briefly and then glanced back at the kitchen before returning to his book.

"So?"

"AXEL!" Riku screamed, as he burst through the doors of the kitchen. The few customers looked up in surprise, and hurried to finish their meals, not wanting to witness a brawl.

"Yes?"

"It was your turn to close last night! I had to cancel my date with Namine because of you!" the furious teen accused.

"Is Namine angry with you?"

"…Well..n-no…actually, she came to help…" Riku stuttered, faltering slightly.

"Then stop acting like a pissy old cat!" Axel exclaimed, flicking Riku on the nose.

"Hey-!"

"Get to work, dish boy."

_- - - - -_

"Hm. I think I'll take Kairi out to dinner again."

"Aren't you banned from most of the restaurants in town?" Zexion asked.

"No! I-….nope, wait…you're right." he laughed jovially and grabbed his jacket. "Guess I'll just go hang out at her place." He walked out into the crisp autumn air and sighed, relishing the feeling of the wind on his face.

He strode to Kairi's place deep in thought. "What do you do after all of your dreams come true?" he muttered, looking around furtively to see if anyone had been around hear the sheer corniness of his question. Fortunately, he was completely alone, and he hopped up the steps to Kairi's apartment.

Her door was wide open.

His eyebrows knotted in worry-but he quickly brushed the feeling away and stepped into the dark apartment, silently trying to come up with an explanation for the open door. Everything looked normal as he surveyed the living room-so he concluded that Kairi was only trying to scare him-and would jump him in the kitchen wearing nothing but a skimpy nightgown and they'd both have the wildest night of their lives.

"Hey Kai? Where are you?"

No answer.

Laughing, he continued. "Ha ha, very funny Princess. You've freaked me out enough-why don't you come out now? And hey-is that offer from last night still on the table?"

As he walked into the kitchen, he saw Kairi slumped over the table, clutching a red rose in her hand.

"Aw, she fell asleep waiting for me…" he touched her shoulder and recoiled-it was cold. "K-Kairi…?"

And that was when he noticed the pool of blood gathering on the table.

"What the-" He turned her head with his hand-his stomach already tangled in complicated knots, dreading what he might see-

Her once beautiful eyes were dull and a gaping hole in her forehead-still bleeding-told him that she wasn't sleeping…

'What do you do when all your dreams come crashing down around you?'

_- - - - -_

"They blame me, you know. They think _I'm_ the one who killed you." He frowned, glancing back at the sullen guard who had been assigned to him.

"I'm glad I got to visit you through-it's the anniversary of our first date. Do you remember that…? I…I think I loved you, Princess." he laughed mirthlessly. "But you don't really care, do you? I wonder-will they let a framed man into Heaven?"

He crouched down in front of the headstone, tracing her name with his fingers. "I wish they would've listened to me when I told them to bury this with you-of course, I don't blame them. Who listens to a '_murderer'_? I wish I could keep it-but I'm afraid that freaky inmate of mine is going to steal it while I sleep. It's the only thing that I have to remember you by-but I guess it'd kinda useless for me to keep it, seeing as I'm going to die anyway. They passed my sentence a few days ago-I'm on Death Row, Princess and I'm not upset at all. Maybe things will be better on the other side-who knows, maybe…I'll see you there."

With that, he released his grip on the necklace, and it fell-like a single blood-red tear glistening in the sunset.


End file.
